Dallas County Democrats announce new leadership

Tuesday

Mar 28, 2017 at 12:20 PMMar 29, 2017 at 4:30 PM

By Clint Cole Editor

The Dallas County Democrats have announced that they have new people in their leadership positions.

Bryce Smith, who recently ran a campaign for the Iowa House of Representatives, will succeed Vicki Adams as the chairman. Adams chose not to run again for another two-year term and Smith was elected chairman by the Central Committee.

“It was humbling, but also, the challenge was accepted, so I’m eager to get to work and kind of bring some of my talents to the committee and lead it in that direction,” Smith said.

Smith said that being the chairman wasn’t necessarily a goal of his, but he thinks it will help the county, especially considering he recently ran a campaign.

“I kind of had first-hand experience at what worked, what didn’t work, the involvement level and all of that,” Smith said. “And then moving forward, we’re obviously seeing a larger number of people being politically active right now, so harnessing that energy I felt was necessary.”

Smith said that a big part of his duties as the chairman will include making sure that the Central Committee is organized and the positions are full. The Central Committee is made up of no more than three people from each of Dallas County’s 34 precincts, although not all of the positions are currently full.

The Central Committee, which Smith called the “business body” vote on decisions, such as which candidates to support, where and how to spend money, how to raise money and what the Dallas County Democrats stand for and what they are working towards.

“My hope is that I’m not doing this alone,” Smith said. “I will have plenty of people who will work with me or want to pitch in and bring their talents to the table so that we can achieve a lot more than maybe just placing it in the hands of a few people and let them just be in charge.”

Smith said that a part of the reason he will be successful as chairman of the Dallas County Democrats is because he is passionate about what he believes in.

“I’m a progressive Democrat, and I’m proud of that,” Smith said. “And I’m eager to share that message, of not just why I am, but also why so many other people are.”

Smith also said that he is going to be trying to build the party.

“We have a lot of people who are sitting on the sidelines. They might be Independent, they might be just not even voters. Just irregular voters, don’t vote at all,” Smith said. “Those people should have knowledge of the vested interest that government can have, the impact that government can have.”